The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-08-24
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: The Christian Principles
Involved in Life and Fire
Insurance."

TEXT: "Let hin, appoint officers ouer the
land, and take up the fifth part of the tand
of Egypt IN the Seren plenteous gears u
Genesis xii, "a.
These were the words Of Joseph, the Presi-
dent of the first insurance company that
the world ever saw. Pharaoh had dream that
distracted him. He thought he stood OH the
banks of the River Nile, and saw coming up
and they began to browse in the thick grass.
Nothing frightful about that But after
them, coming out of the same river, ne saw
seven COWS that were guant and starved, and
the worst looking cows that had ever been
seen in the land, and i'll the ferocity OF hunger
they devourcd their seven fat predecessors.
Pharaoh, the King, sent for Joseph to de-
cipher these midnight heroglyphics. Joseph
made short work of it, and intimated the
seven fat cows that came out of the river
are seven years with p:enty to eat, the
seven emaciated cows that followed them
are seven years with nothing to eat.
"Now,", said Joseph, Let US take one one,
prosperous years and keep it as a provision
Tor the seven years in which there shall be no
corn CROP The King took the counsel
and appointed Joseph, because of his lnteg-
rity and public spiritedneSS, as the President
of the undertaking. The farmers paid
.one-ffth of their income as premium. In
all the towns and cities OF the land there
were branch houses. This great Egyptian
life insurance company had millions OF dol
lars as assets After awhile the dark days
came and the whole nation would have
starved if it had not been for the provision
they had made for the future. But now
these suffering families had nothing to do
but 90 up and collect the amount Of their
life policies. The Bible puts il in one short
sphrase: I'm all the land of Egypt there was
bread l say this was the first life insurance
company. 1t was divinely organized. 1t
had in it all the advantages of the whole
life plan," of the "tontine plan," of the re
served endowment plan" and all the other
good plans. We are told that Rev. DR.. An
hate, of Lincolnshire, England, originated
the first life insurance company IN l69S. NO!
it is as old as the corn cribs of Egypt; and
God himself was the author and originator.
II that were not so I would not take your
time and mine in Sabbath discussion Of this
subject. l feel it is a theme, vital, religious
and of infinite import, the morals OF life and
fire insurance
About ten or twelve years ago there was
great panic in life insurance which did good.
Under the storm the untrustworthy and bo-
gus institutions were scattered, while the
genuine were tested and firmly established,
and where does the life insurance institution
stand to-day! What amount OF comfort, OF
education, of moral and spiritual advantage
Is represented in the simple statistic that IN
this country the life insurance companies IN
one year paid 81, 600, ,0O to the families Of the
bereft; and in five years they paid 500 ,OOO,-
600 to the families of the bereft; and are
promising to pay-and hold themselves in
readiness to pays, 900, ,OOO,OO to the fami-
lies Of the bereft!
They have actually paid out more by divi-
dends and death claims than they have ever
i,, | know or WHAT i
speak The life Insurance companies OF this
country paid more than s., 7,OOO, ,OO0 of taxes to
the government in five years. So, instead OF
these companies being indebted to the land,
the land is indebted to them. To cry out
against life insurance because here and there
y one company has behaved badly is as absurd
as it would I've for man to burn down ,OO0
acres of harvest field in order to kill the moles
and potato bugs-as preposterous as man
who should blow up crowded steamer IN
rnid-Atlantic for the purpose of destroying
the barnacles on the bottom Of the hulk.
But what does the Bible say i'll regard to
this subject! If the Bible favors the lnstltu-
ton, will favor it; if the Bible denouncesl 1t,
/ will denounce it. In addition to the fore.
cast OF Joseph in the text, l call your atten-
tion to Paurs comparison. Here is one man
who through neglect, fails to support his
family while he lives, or after he dies. Here
is another man, who abhors the SCRIPTURES
and rejects God. Which of those men is the
worse! Well, you say, the latter. Paul says
the former Paul says that man who neg
lects to care for his household IS more obnoX-
ious than man who rejects the Scriptures:
t'He that provideth not for his own, and espe-
cially those of his own household, Is worse
than all intdel." Life insurance companies
help most of us to provide for our families
after we are gone; but, If we have the money
to pay the premiums and do not pay them,
we have no right to expect mercy at tne manu-
of God in the Judgment. We are worse
than Tom Paine, worse than Eoltalre,
and worse than ShafteSbury. The Bible de-
clares tive are worse than an mideL
After the certificate of death has been made
out, and thirty or sixty days have passed, and
the officer of the life insurance company
comes into the bereft household and pays
down the hard cash on an insurance policy,
that officer Of the company IS performing
positively religious rite according to the
Apostle James, who says: True religion
and undefiled before God and the Father is
this: To visit the fatherless and the widow
in their affiction,n and so on. The religion
of Christ proposes to take care of Ito tenn
poral wants of the people as well as the spirit
alal When Hezekiah was dying the injunc-
ton came to him: Set thy house in
order. for thou shalt die and not live y
That injunction in our day would
mean: make your will; settle up your
accounts; make things plain: don't de-
,ceive your heirs with rolls of worthless
mining stock; don't deceive them with
deeds for western lands that will never
yield any crop but chills and fever; don't
leave for them notes that have been out
lawed, and second mortgages on property
that will not pay the first" !'Set thy house
in norder." That is, fix up things, so your
going out of the world may make as little
CONSERVATION as possible. See the lean cattle
,devouring the fat cattle, and in the time OF
plenty prepare for the time OF want. Ihe
difficulty is, when men think of their death,
they are afraid to think of it only in connec..
tion with their spiritual welfare, and not OF
the devastation in the household which will
come because of their emigration from it. Ii
Is meanly selfish for you to be so absorbed IN
the heaven to which you are going that you
forget what is to become of your wife aud
children after you are dead. You can get
out of this world without leaving dollar and
vet die happy if you could not provide FOL
Them: YOU can trust them in the hands OF the
God who owns all the harvests, aLi the herds
and the focks; but if you could pay the
premiums on policy and neglect them 1t IS 6
mean thing for you to go up to heaven wnile
they go into the poorhouse. You, at deoth
move into mansion, river tronC, anu tuey
move into two rooms OH the fourth story OF
tenement house in back street. -" hen theS
are out at the elbows and knees, the thou5h
of your splendid robes in heaven will not Keel
them warm. The minister may preach
splendid sermon over your remains, anu tn
Quartet may sing like four angels III
organ loft, but your death will be swlndle
You had the means to provide for the com
fort of your hous ahold when You left It anc
you wickedly neglected it. "Oh, says some
one, 81 have more faith than you; l believe